I’ve said this before, but it’s time to say it again. I’m so glad I grew up right before the advent of the Internet and social media.
Don’t get me wrong, I love those things, but I think I was in the last generation to be a little more carefree. And just plain FREE. But things have obviously changed in a million ways since then…
What do you miss about life pre-Internet? AskReddit users shared their thoughts.
1. The good stuff!
“The Sears catalog.
That was how I found out about all the cool new toys.”
2. The thrill of it!
“I miss my video game magazines.
The thrill of getting one in the mail (often multiple because I had several different subscriptions) to read up on the next thing coming out, strategies for games that recently came out, and just the fun articles about related material were some of my favorite memories.”
3. Yes!
“Remember Coke’s Magi-cans?
You’d pop the top and if you won, a rolled-up dollar bill would literally pop out.
Those were the days.”
4. Physical copies.
“Reading the newspaper and magazines used to be just about one of my favorite things.
Now it seems pointless to clutter the house with so much paper when I can access all of it online – but of course I don’t. I pick and choose just a few articles, I don’t really browse the way I would before and I encounter a lot fewer new or enlightening things.
Getting the Sunday New York Times and then going out for brunch and reading it with your friends/dates was such a treat.
I used to get so excited when my favorite magazines came in the mail, I’d immediately sit down and leaf through them and see what was worth reading right away and what could wait.”
5. Don’t even get me started.
“Video rental stores.
I have such good memories of going to our local Mr. Movie with my dad, renting a sci-fi flick and getting candy at the checkout.
Streaming is cool and all, but i do miss video rental stores, mainly for nostalgic reasons.”
6. Fingers crossed.
“When you bought new music you just had to hope it was good.
The single might be popular but unless someone had it you just bought it and hoped for the best.”
7. I don’t like this.
“It used to be a lot harder to bail on things.
You’d have to call the person at home and tell them yourself, or at least leave a message if you wanted to be risky. Typically if you were gonna bail you’d give at least 24 hours notice.
Nowadays people can let you know they’re bailing last second since you’re always reachable.”
8. It was all an adventure.
“Making plans was an adventure, especially if you and your friends all relied on public transportation.
Look up the movie times in the newspaper (or later call moviefone), decide on a time to meet (and tell that one friend who’s always late an earlier time), walk our your house and check the bus timetable (that’s hardly accurate anyway), and then hoping nothing happens en route since you had no way of telling your friends if you’re late.”
9. That sounds kinda nice.
“News only being on at 6pm. That was it.
Now we have 6 hours of local news and 24 hours of cable news. Not being bombarded all day with “news.”
And when you saw “Breaking News” on the screen you knew some serious s**t went down.”
10. I’ll be there.
“RSVPing mattered. If you said you were going to be there, you made sure to be there.
None of this facebook invites that everyone blows off without any form of social repercussions.
If you said you were going to go and didn’t go, you were the a**hole and everyone knew it.”
11. See ya when I see ya.
“Leaving home and just being gone for the day. No cell phones.
If there were cameras, it was really different. You used them to take pictures of things or had people take pictures of you.
But there was no social media to preoccupy your mind. It was just doing something. And whoever you were with, was who you were with.”
12. A simpler time.
“Not being overwhelmed by choice.
Don’t get me wrong, having nearly every form of media downloadable is great, but back in the day, i rented a video game and I played that video game as much as I could.
Now, its hard to give it more than 2 seconds before I try one of the 20,000 games I have access to.
New game plus used to be cool. Now, I’m happy if just beat the game.”
13. Spacing out.
“I miss spacing out.
Like, you could legit just sit on a bench or ride a bus and space out completely, letting your mind wander into those creative zones.
Now phones/tech makes it much harder to get there.”
What do YOU miss about life before the Internet?
Talk to us in the comments and let us know.
Please and thank you!
